The present invention generally relates to financial presentation instruments. More particularly, the present invention relates to methods and systems for initializing financial presentation instruments, preferably stored value cards, gift cards, or other pre-paid debit cards.
Stored value cards, gift cards, or other pre-paid metered accounts associated with debits cards are well-known for providing access to goods and services. For example, stored value or gift cards may be purchased from various merchants such as Target®, Wal-Mart®, Starbucks®, Sears®, Blockbuster®, Macy's®, Banana Republic®, and the like. Pre-paid debit cards are also frequently purchased for telephone services. The purchase and usage of financial presentation instruments has continued to increase in recent years to the point that the sale of stored value cards, gift cards, and pre-paid debit cards today is a multi-billion dollar industry.
Stored value cards, gift cards, and pre-paid debit cards are often printed and issued with a predetermined balance and typically then sold as a retail item. An example of such a card is a pre-paid gift card which provides an individual with a set dollar amount for the purchase of goods from a particular merchant. The account is accessed and debited by using an account identification number provided on the gift card. A problem experienced in the sale of such pre-paid gift cards is that merchants buying these cards are subsequently more exposed to loss through shrinkage and theft. As such, the merchant typically stores such pre-paid gift cards under lock and key until the moment the cards are purchased. This in turn prevents stocking of such cards on store shelves freely accessible by prospective customers and increases merchant handling time and expenses. In addition, the merchant must maintain inventory stock of different values of these pre-paid gift cards well in advance of when the gift cards are actually sold as a retail item, thus restricting working capitol.
With these problems in mind, merchants have begun to display non-activated stored value cards, gift cards, and debit cards. In this way, the merchant can readily provide unfettered access of such cards to prospective customers and reduce handling time and costs as theft is no longer a concern since the non-activated debit cards have no intrinsic value. Further, merchants no longer carry a large initial expenditure since the merchant activates the debit card with a balance representing an amount a customer wishes to attribute to the debit card at the time the debit card is actually purchased by the customer.
Typically, such non-activated stored value cards, gift cards, and debit cards are activated by a provider at a merchant location or retail store at the time of purchase. Activation at a merchant or retail site is often not convenient, particularly when time is of the essence for a last minute gift. Further, a merchant site may provide limited access for a customer due to hours of operation, transportation to and from the merchant site, waiting in line, etc. Alternatively, due to the continuing increase of business over the internet, customers may now also purchase stored value and gift cards online. Current online purchases however also suffer from some drawbacks. For example, online purchases may require the customer to wait for shipment of the card, typically a minimum of twenty-four hours for physical card receipt, as well to incur shipping costs and expenses. This lack of instant activation is often inconvenient.
For these and other reasons, there is a need in the art for alternative methods and systems that provide for instant activation of financial presentation instruments, particularly stored value cards, gift cards, or other pre-paid debit cards. It would be desirable to provide methods and systems in which card initialization may be carried out easily, conveniently, and without any issues of limited access or card receipt. It would be further desirable if targeting of these financial presentation instruments could be utilized as a marketing tool. At least some of these objectives will be met by the methods and systems of the present invention described hereinafter.